Monday, November 7, 2016

If you've been
following Austin music news over the past year, you probably heard
about the messy breakup between the people behind local booking
company Transmission Events and the real estate company that backed
them, Stratus Properties. The short version is that almost all the
main people of Transmission left and started a new company, Margin
Walker, that is carrying on the best parts of Transmission's legacy.
(The long version can be read here,
here,
and here.)
Part of the fallout is that the delightful Fun
Fun Fun Fest was also left with Stratus. As should be obvious by
now, it
didn't happen, and it doesn't look like it will in the future.
However, Margin Walker acted fast and put together a new festival
with a similar look and feel under the name Sound on Sound. They
managed to hold it the same weekend that FFFFest usually took place,
but due to a non-compete clause they had to find a new venue. They
stepped up the challenge, thought creatively, and chose Sherwood
Forest, the home of the (semi-)local Renaissance faire. What might
seem like an unconventional pairing actually worked out rather well.

Event: Sound on Sound
Festival, Day 2

Venue: Sherwood Forest

Location: McDade, Texas

Date: 5 November 2016

In past years of going
to Austin
Psych Fest/Levitation, I've had some trouble with the shuttle
system, but still never gave up on it. (I vastly prefer biking and
mass transit to driving!) With this being the first year of SoS, I
was a bit concerned that it might be another rough experience.
However, it seemed like they were trying to make the shuttles a
compelling option by guaranteeing departure times and selling cheap
passes in advance. Although I got drenched in a downpour while riding
my bike to the shuttle pick-up at Mohawk, the bus was timely and
comfortable, which made it well worth it.

Since I was only going
for one day, I decided to go all out and get there early. I was on
the second shuttle and arrived just in time to see Moving
Panoramas at the Dragon's Lair
stage. I've seen them twice
before (last year at a Fun
Fun Fun Fest late night show and again earlier
this year) and they only keep getting better. In
the meantime, it appears that Rozie Castoe has been replaced on bass
by Jolie Cota Flink, and a keyboardist/percussionist/vocalist has
just been added to the lineup. Drummer Karen Skloss may have made a
few slip-ups, but Flink delivered an improved low end, and the new
keyboardist was
a very welcome addition. Their inviting, guitar-based,
dream pop sound was stronger
than ever. This was their
best performance that I've seen yet.

[Moving Panoramas.]

I'd seen some of the
members of Hard Proofplay
live with Gary Clark, Jr., but I somehow hadn't yet managed to
see them in their own right. I finally got to change that, and I was
immediately taken by their funky vibes and high energy. The ten-piece
group played an instrumental take on Afrobeat with three
percussionists, baritone sax, tenor sax, trumpet, bass, and three
guitarists, one of whom also played keyboards. The music was
instantly danceable and yet intricate enough to keep your attention.
I'll admit it was just a bit surreal to see my former landlord grab a
mic and hype the crowd when he wasn't playing the saxophone, but it
worked. That's Austin for you, I suppose!

[Hard Proof.]

At that point I took a
break to wander the grounds. Having gone to the Kansas City
Renaissance Festival for years as a child, it brought back a wave of
nostalgia to walk through the oddly familiar environment. Some parts
were closed up or roped off, but many were open and in some cases
even inhabited by what seemed like typical Ren faire vendors. There
were plenty of food trucks from Austin, but there were also a handful
of rides and events that intermingled the Fun Fun Fun Fest traditions
with Ren faire themes.

I couldn't resist a
Freeto Burrito from the Vegan Yacht, and I took the opportunity to
sit and watch some of Orthy's
set at the Forest Stage while I ate. Instead of the bland EDM that I
had feared they might perform, they opted for a compromise between
organic and electronic approaches. However, even the energy of a
decent live band couldn't make the middling electronica seem
particularly inspired.

I returned back to the
Dragon's Lair stage to see Wild Nothing, and indie rock band
with (again!) touches of dream pop and shoegaze. Their bassist was
solid and played a thick and grounding groove. The two guitarists
occasionally engaged in some great interplay, but too often remained
content with keeping it simple. The keyboardist did a good job adding
layers on top of the rest, and the combination of all the above was
usually rewarding. The vocals and songwriting were decent without
being outstanding, but they had a good balance between rock energy
and pop catchiness. At times I was even reminded of The
Chameleons. [Edit 2016.11.12:
Their setlist can be found here.]

[Wild Nothing.]

While again wandering
around the grounds with a friend, we ended up watching most of the
set from Alex G. He and his band worked up a decent alt-rock
vibe reminiscent of the 90s bedroom circuit. The sound was was
appealing familiar in a weird way but upon closer inspection was
fairly standard guitar stuff. A somewhat adolescent angle and
occasional bursts of aimless, jarring aggression didn't help.

After another excursion
for food and drinks, I settled back at the Dragon's Lair stage to
wait for Deerhunter, who I'd actually seen before (albeit
while distracted) at my first Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2013. Frontperson
Bradford Cox seemed to be having trouble getting the monitor mix just
right, but eventually gave up about fifteen minutes after their
scheduled set time and finally started the show. The music was
rock-oriented, mildly psychedelic, and hard to pin down. The band
consistently put down a solid beat, and the musicianship was good,
but I couldn't follow the arc of the songs. At one point, Cox claimed
to live on the same street as Big Boi (who played next on the same
stage), which for all I know could be true, as both live in Atlanta.
He said he was recently hit by a car while walking to his house,
which interrupted him while writing a song in his head. Shortly after
starting the next song, something went wrong (or Cox intentionally
sabotaged it) and he joked that it was just like getting hit by the
car. I got a decidedly weird vibe from Cox, like he was being
antagonistic. He mostly sang, but also played some guitar with enough
skill to make me wonder why he didn't play more. Oddly, for their
last song, the other guitarist sang the lead. Their setlist can be
found here,
although it is incomplete.

[Deerhunter.]

Night had fallen, and
once more, my friend and I walked around the festival and enjoyed the
atmosphere of stumbling through the woods in the dark. I think I'd
originally intended on seeing Car Seat Headrest, but for some reason
I forgot about that and didn't really watch anything for a spell. I
ultimately returned once more to the Dragon's Lair stage to get a
good spot for Beach House. They were half an hour late for
unclear reasons. Their stage setup was very similar to when I saw
them in April, but this time I couldn't get a good picture. I did
get the setlist, though:

Compared to their last
Austin show, this performance felt rushed and truncated. They barely
addressed the audience and hardly took a breath between most of the
songs. I suppose they were trying to make the most of what time they
had, but for the topmost-billed band of the festival, 70 minutes
wasn't enough. They played a strong set, but I was a bit disappointed
that nine of the thirteen songs were also played at the April show. I
would have loved more variation. Nonetheless, "Master of None"
was a delightful throwback, and the other unique songs of this set
("Wild", New Year", and "Take Care") were
all a pleasure to hear. Since they hardly have a weak song in their
whole discography, I can't actually complain about anything they
might choose to play, but for the last night of their Depression
Cherry/Thank Your
Lucky Stars tour, I was hoping
for a special treat.

Beach
House's sweeping, spatial, dreamy music suited the cool evening in a
rural field with a bright crescent moon and
clouded
sky. It was as easy as ever to get lost in,
which made the length of the set all the more conspicuous. They again
built up the guitar-oriented "Elegy to the Void" into a
thick crescendo, and for their finale, they worked up "10 Mile
Stereo" into a noisy, blissful jam. It was a great show, but I
was left wishing for more.

It
was getting late, but I'd made up my mind to stay for at least part
of Purity Ring's
set. Of course, they were a full hour late, so I only stayed for half
an hour before I had to get on a shuttle back to Austin. As soon as
they got going, I was drawn in by their visual performance. They
opted to appear as just their core duo, with Corin
Roddick behind an interactive lightpost/synth tower and Megan James
walking the stage under a huge LED fixture. It was easy to be
transfixed by the lightshow. However, I found the actual music to be
only slightly above average. Unless Roddick had more hands than I
could see, most of the instrumentation was prerecorded, and even
James' voice was vocoded/autotuned in parts without an apparent
performer. The artifice was alienating even as the display was
captivating. Their setlist can be found here.

[Purity Ring.]

Final Thoughts:
After all the drama of the
Transmission Events/Margin Walker divorce, I'm glad that the new
festival started strong. It clearly carried on the tradition of Fun
Fun Fun Fest without being a mere change in name. They made the most
of their semi-exiled environment and had fun with it. The food and
drink selections were good, and the lineup was a good mix. And
thankfully, once I did finally pack it in, the shuttle line was short
and there were multiple buses ready, so it wasn't even all that long
of a trip back to town. Although weather may have caused a mess the
following day, this was a
promising start to a new festival tradition.